Anatomia in Quat Tota Humani Corporis Fabrica. (Anatomy in Total of the Fabric of the Human Body).

VESALIUS, Andreas. (Thomas Geminus).

$28,000.00

Item Number: 74638

Amsterdam: Joannes Janssonius, 1617.

Rare edition of the Epitome of Vesalius, first published in 1543 as an abbreviated dissection room manual to accompany his masterpiece De Humani Corporis Fabrica (On the Fabric of the Human Body). Folio, bound in full contemporary calf, gilt titles and elaborate gilt tooling to the spine, red spine label, raised tooled bands, marbled endpapers, engraved pictorial title page. Engraved portrait of Vesalius, engraved folding plate of  Adam and Eve after that in the epitome before the main text. Containing  39 full-page anatomically illustrated plates, woodcut headpieces and initials. In near fine condition. Captions in both Latin and German, having been otherwise taken directly from Thomas Geminus’ first copy of 1545, Compendiosa Toitus Anatomie Delineato Aere Exarata. German text taken from Baumann’s German edition of 1551 (Keynes, 171; Krivatsy, 12321; Waller, 9919).

Flemish refugee, engraver and printer Thomas Geminus was active throughout the latter 16th century in London and best known for his 1545 work Compendiosa totius anatomie delineatio, aere exarata (A complete delineation of the entire anatomy engraved on copper). Printed by John Herford the work consisted of 41 unnumbered engraved sheets all copied directly from Andreas Vesalius' Epitome, published in 1543 as an abbreviated dissection room manual to accompany the latter's masterpiece De Humani Corporis Fabrica (On the Fabric of the Human Body). In his copperplate engraved copies, Geminus removed all the details he regarded as superfluous, most notably the background landscapes which informed Vesalius's images. Born in 1588 in Arnhem, Netherlands and the son of bookseller and publisher Jan Janszoon the Elder, Dutch cartographer and publisher Johannes Janssonius produced and published several important maps and volumes throughout the early 17th century including the Hondius Atlas. His 1617 work was printed as a direct copy of the Gemini plates with credit given to Vesalius as the book's author as was common in that era.